Montreal Canadiens: Three Stars vs Ottawa Senators

Alexander Romanov

Alexander Romanov came out of the gates this season like a rocket. He was not a certainty to make the opening night roster but he did and he looked like a ten year veteran in that first game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He has had his ups and downs this season, but he looked far more confident last night than we have seen in the past few weeks. Though he hasn’t been struggling, it’s difficult for a rookie defender to look great when his team is in the midst of a five game losing streak.

Romanov has mostly played on the third pairing with Brett Kulak lately and is starting to make a case to maybe move up the lineup. He plays a solid, steady, two-way game and doesn’t make as many mistakes as you might expect from a 20 year old rookie blue liner.

He also showed he has a very physical side as well when he took a healthy, but clean, run at Erik Brannstrom in open ice last night.

He also showed shortly after the big hit that he is comfortable jumping into the rush when he sees the opportunity and he nearly scored his second goal of the season on this play.

Romanov is still playing on the Habs third pairing, but with his impressive two-way play and Ben Chiarot not living up to last season’s performance, we could see the Russian rookie playing with Shea Weber in the near future.